Suzanne

No matter how you slice it. We have been approved for plenty of cash, have excellent credit, but the market down here is weird. House prices are falling, all the while insurance rates are going through the roof (the luxury of living near the coast in Florida). Last year we nearly bought our first home, we were in contract and everything. I think all the forces of the universe united to keep us out of that home. Patrick’s car died the big car death, the City of Lansing was claiming us responsible for a mini-van we had sold a year earlier, and the house failed inspection miserably.

So here we are, a year later posturing to make that next step back into the nasty house hunt. A friend put it to me about as plainly as it can get:

“Buying a house is about finding a home you hate the least in the price you can afford.”

C’est ca.

When a law changes and the powers that be are not notified of new procedures. The police at least were helpful, but nearly an entire year after we thought everything was relatively resolved we received a letter from the Lansing city power authority claiming that we owe them $600 for a light post damaged by our vehicle (again, not our vehicle). Happily this time proof of the sale, signed title, and police report all helped and that hassle was very quickly averted. Hopefully that’s the last of that mess.

Get your masks and fins together, we’re going to poke the sea creatures. Patrick and I will be driving down to Key Largo for a little snorkeling, probably in February or sometime late winter early spring. It’s a gift for my birthday. Of course if we happen to buy a house before this trip is scheduled we may find that financially it’s not doable. Here’s to hoping we can squeeze it in before that happens.

Boy I’ve neglected this list here big time. Things have become crazy in my world, but we do now have two bikes and can ride around the neighborhood all the live long day now. :)

We spent a good month to month and a half researching, reading up, pre-approving, investigating homes, viewing homes, and then finally we write an offer contingent on inspection, pay for the inspection and find the home riddled with issues.

Shortly after Patrick’s car dies, and then some legal drama from our former home in Michigan comes back in the form of a sold vehicle that was never registered by the new owner… which was successfully involved in a hit and run. Good fun.

It’s a good thing we didn’t end up with the house after all, however, house buying, hunting, financing, and all that good stuff, takes up entirely TOO much time. I’m happy to have stopped and given up (given the car situation and all the financial mess that comes with that) and perhaps in a year we’ll try again.

Not quite in the summer, but darn close indeed so I’ll count it. I have three pieces that will be featured in the upcoming “Pretty Girls and Robots” exhibition at the UAG in Albany.

Anyone out there from Albany?

Here’s the information:
http://www.upstateartistsguild.org/exhibit/upcoming.php

I’ve been hired on as a local corporation’s “in house” desginer and I’m doing it via freelance. This gives me the time I need to work on my paintings, and argue with the Michigan State Government. So far so good, hopefully I can keep this going and replenish my savings a little since they dipped so low after the move down here to Florida.

We have a signed title AND a bill of sale signed by the person who bought said car. However, neither of those items matter. Michigan changed the law and no longer has a way for the seller of a vehicle to avoid paying all liabilities on a sold vehicle if that vehicle is not registered by the buyer. Prior to November you could prove the sale with the above items (this being the law at the time we sold the vehicle) and you would not be liable for the damage, fees, storage, and towing of the vehicle.

Now where do we go? I just don’t know. We’ve been fighting with the police, towing company, and the Motor Vehicle people. They’re all pointing fingers at each other, but the police and courts claim there’s nothing they can do, the law changed and left no way for us to protect ourselves.

Well, oddly enough soon after I wrote this I was contacted by a headhunter seeking a graphic designer for a local Melbourne, Florida company. He didn’t see my post here, it was just chance. Anyhow, I put together a resume and brief digital portfolio all into one PDF and sent it back for them to pass onto the client. Well, they apparently liked what they saw and have asked to meet with me right away. Tomorrow morning I must dig up the ol’ business casual wear and see what happens.

I don’t want anything fulltime since I’m painting fulltime, but some extra work to help put towards a home or new car (Patrick’s just died) would be very very helpful. Here’s to hoping that this works out just right.

(the photo is the last time I looked all business… circa 2004)

I researched the whole house buying bit from end to end. I even got us a good real-estate agent to help us out and eventually we even put an offer on a house but had to walk away when we found it had termites, a slowly draining septic tank, and lots of surface damage throughout the house (not to mention half the appliances and AC weren’t working).

I keep thinking back to that house now as the one that got away. In the end it was me who wanted to run screaming from it. The house was a fixer upper on the surface… but a renovation when you looked closer. Everything was perfect about it besides the sorry state it was in. I guess that’s what breaks my heart. At this point, nothing new has come up, and we’ve grown very anxious about financing such a big purchase.

My cold feet have turned into a very cynical attitude towards the whole house buying process. I would like a nice sturdy concrete block house before the hurricane season starts up again, but I don’t want the house to be the only thing we can think about due to the huge financial burden it puts on us.

In the end, I know that things will work out, but for now I’m just now sure how. We shall see.

and what was the best part of it all was how patrons of the gallery were sorting through the paintings and studies I brought along. They weren’t even unwrapped yet and people were trying to see what was there. Hopefully that bodes well for a good opening with at least a sale or two. I’ll have to keep my toes crossed.

I feel pretty well settled in at this point. Florida is finally feeling more like home, and less like some strange dream filled with sunshine and palm trees. I’m actually starting to bump into people that I know when I’m out around town and that rarely happened before in Michigan so I figure I can scratch this one off the list and make room for a new goal. :)

…But that’s what it takes when you have two shows nearly back to back and a gallery in NC asking for more work. I’m finally on the threshold of the last show at least for a few months and I’m looking forward to returning a more normal pace of working. I’ve got a show in the works for September that should be fairly conceptual and this will give me some good time to really sit down and contemplate how it’ll all go.

Thank you to everyone who has supported and encouraged me along the way. I wish you all could be at the opening on Saturday night. For more details:
http://www.dirty-paper.com/art/events.html

Perhaps this year I can pull off the goal once more. I’ve been accepted into a gallery in Swansboro, NC. The Gallery owner will be driving down this way on his vacation on Tuesday and plans to pick up six of my butterfly series paintings for exhibition and consignment. If I can find homes for those pieces I would be especially happy. :)

I’m hoping the April show goes well. I’ve just started a new body of work, “Companionship” because of the tremendous response to the painting, “Better Days” from waay back when.

I have two pieces completed in the group and if all goes well in the next six weeks I’ll get another five pieces done. We shall see though. That would make a whopping ten new pieces for the show, plus an additional three painting never before exhibited in the area. * crossing toes * hopefully it’ll all hang well together.

I just had the opening night last Friday and it went really well. Since I wasn’t sending out notifications of completed works to my mailing list from this body of work (because of the quick turn around) I wasn’t sure how the public would react to my turtle paintings.

Turns out, everyone enjoyed them and one of them found a new home yesterday. Hooray! I’m hoping that a few more find homes before all is said and done.

As noted in my last entry, I’ve stopped grinding my teeth, I haven’t been to a massage therapist in months, and I’m feeling so much better. I’ve been just trying to adopt this slower pace of life down here by the coast. That and I’m really enjoying every moment of beautiful weather and sunshine. Living up north in Lansing was nice, but very rainy and cloudy. Add to that a job I wasn’t hot for and massive layoffs every few months (that I survived but got the joy of watching friends and coworkers sent home with boxes and tears), this life down here is much better.

I’m taking better care of myself, working on MY work, and enjoying every moment. That appears to be the key. As if that’s easily attainable. But, so be it, move to the coast and leave your crummy stressful job and all your troubles will soon melt away. ;)

I’ve been getting better in some ways. My system seems to be adapting to all the craziness of my missing gall bladder, and my DO here in town suggested a dietary supplement that has been helping a great deal. I kind of suspect that I’m nearly normal now. I only get sick maybe once a week instead of up to six times a day, and THAT’s considerably more manageable. Perhaps it’s time to check this puppy off my list!

Living here in Florida has given me a new outlook on life. The sleepy costal way of life has done wonders for my once type A personality. I’m perfectly pleased to drive slower (say… the speed limit) and take my time getting around and doing things. The stresses have been lifted and I even stopped grinding my teeth! Who would have ever thought that was possible? I can’t help but think that being here has helped me heal. That and my amazing genius of a doctor. I’m so lucky to have found him. :)

I purchased surfing lessons for Patrick and they allow for a companion to join. I’m not sure if I’ll participate, but hey, I bought the lessons. :)

I suppose I should perhaps change this goal since it didn’t really happen. I did have a show in fall, but it was one I had planned for for quite a long time. Shall I move this to spring? Summer? Hmmm…